y's brother-in-law, preferred to
be the cat's paw of the King of France; and in August the Scots
forces poured over the Border under the command of James himself. (p. 066)
England was prepared; and on 9th September, "at Flodden hills," sang
Skelton, "our bows and bills slew all the flower of their honour".
James IV. was left a mutilated corpse upon the field of battle.[137]
"He has paid," wrote Henry, "a heavier penalty for his perfidy than we
would have wished." There was some justice in the charge. James was
bound by treaty not to go to war with England; he had not even waited
for the Pope's answer to his request for absolution from his oath; and
his challenge to Henry, when he was in France and could not meet it,
was not a knightly deed. Henry wrote to Leo for permission to bury the
excommunicated Scottish King with royal honours in St. Paul's.[138]
The permission was granted, but the interment did not take place. In
Italy, Louis fared no better; at Novara, on 6th June, the Swiss
infantry broke in pieces the grand army of France, drove the fragments
across the Alps, and restored the Duchy of Milan to the native house
of Sforza.

[Footnote 136: _L. and P._, i., 4398; Ellis,
_Original Letters_, 1st ser., i., 83.]

[Footnote 137: _L. and P._, i., 4439, 4441, 4461;
_cf._ popular ballads in Weber's _Flodden Field_,
and _La Rotta de Scocese_ (Bannatyne Club).]

[Footnote 138: _Ven. Cal._, ii., 909; _Sp. Cal._,
i., 137; _L. and P._, i., 4502, 4582.]

* * * * *

The results of the campaign of 1513 were a striking vindication of the
refusal of Henry VIII. and Wolsey to rest under the stigma of their
Spanish expedition of 1512. English prestige was not only restored,
but raised higher than it had stood since the death of Henry V., whose
"name," said Pasqualigo, a Venetian in London, "Henry VIII. would now
renew". He styled him "our great King".[139] Peter Martyr, a resident
at Ferdinand's Court, declared that the Spanish King was "afraid (p. 067)
of the over-growing power of England".[140] Another Venetian in London
reported that "were Henry ambitious of dominion like others, he would
soon give law to the world". But, he added, "he is good and has a good
council. His quarrel was a just one, he marched to free the Church, to
obtain his own, and to liberate It